The Triple Threat Tournament

[Es Mors]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Once you spend 30 points in the level 12-18 skills, then you could put points in Static unless you used it as a prereq. Your interpretation is correct. In practice though, you should be able to do that once you hit NM quite easily.

Erm.. I still don't understand, I'm sorry. Am I correct to assume that once I've spent 30 points in level 12/18 skills, I can put points in any skill of level 1/6/12/18?

 

[Ohomemgrande1]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Erm.. I still don't understand, I'm sorry. Am I correct to assume that once I've spent 30 points in level 12/18 skills, I can put points in any skill of level 1/6/12/18?

Not a problem. Follow this method:

Choose the level 12/18 skills you want to use.
Put points in the prereqs for those skills.
Allot at least 30 points to the level 12/18 skills.
Once you have the 30 points spent, then all skills up to level 18 are open to be used.

So yes, your assumption is correct.

 

[fanatic]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Act I is done and over with.
Cute_Butt is now level 21, skilled in Magic Arrow(13) and Poison Javelin(8).
Hired a rogue and quite enjoyed using her. Will see whether she can be as powerful in Act II.
She has a stash full of rejuvs and chipped gems, thankful for use of ATMA as extended stash.
Will probably cube those purples up and cube some magic bows in Act II.
I was under the impression 1.13 was all about increased rune drops, but for the entire Act I was only given a Eth(Countess), Ral and El(Andariel)
Maybe I will have better luck in the desert.

[highlight]Cute_Butt, level 21 Amazon, Act 2 Lut Gholein
Maeko, level 20 Act I Cold Arrow Rogue[/highlight]

 

[Es Mors]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Nice progress fanatic and everyone else who have posted, sorry for not commenting earlier!

Not a problem. Follow this method:

Choose the level 12/18 skills you want to use.
Put points in the prereqs for those skills.
Allot at least 30 points to the level 12/18 skills.
Once you have the 30 points spent, then all skills up to level 18 are open to be used.

So yes, your assumption is correct.

Alright, I understand now. In the end, Soulcatcher became a 20 point fire wall, 1 point glacial spike, 5 point enchant, 14 point warmth sorceress. :girly: Having a blast playing with her! I have to say, this tournament was a great idea, completely changing my play style in nightmare really came as a breath of fresh air. :yes:

Currently in the outer cloister, will update officially when I get further.

 

[Es Mors]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Finished act 1 and 2. The Firewall build is proving to be a very good choice and very fun to play with. Mostly I teleport towards monsters, so the merc charges them and then firewall the combat to shreds.

The first thing I noticed was that there is no way to use static field safely with just one point in it. So the first few points went there. Later I maxed warmth and am now working on enchant.

Act 1 went by quickly. Countess dropped worse than she did in normal (Eth :thumbsdown. Found a 4os long sword and made a spirit with the worst possible FCR roll, leaving me 2% short of a breakpoint. Oh well. My luck changed, as I found this extremely lucky large charm D) - found a 4os crystal sword and made a new spirit - much better.

That charm made up for countess' bad drop too - with a Lem (even though the charm is muled of to a stash. I'm certain it is so lucky it affects me pesonally). This enables me to make a Passion runeword for my merc. Unfortunately, the "hit causes monster to flee +25%" is completely uncompatible with fire wall. So, I'm still waiting for a 5os weapon to make Honor for the merc. Other nice drops include a Tarnhelm and... an Ancient's Pledge, which I made myself.

Switched the merc to a holy freeze one, which was a big improvement. Still going players 8 everywhere, sporting 43% fcr, 75/75/75 resists and 104% mf.

Level 60 + 39 quests + 58 waypoints = 157 points.
[highlight]Destroyer Soulcatcher, level 60 sorceress, Kurast Docks (NM)[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Location        Points
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors          Soulcatcher (2)   Sorc     A3 - NM            157
scrcrw           Flighty           Sorc     A2 - Norm          53
spikewilbury     Terrorizer        Necro    A2 - Norm          35
RGValdearg       Valense           Amazon   A1 - Norm          27 
Bugzy            Unpredictable     Amazon   A1 - Norm          27
Lostprophet      Bartman           Paladin  A1 - Norm          20
ancalagon        Trinity           Assassin A1 - Norm          12
fanatic          Cute_Butt         Amazon   A1 - Norm          2


The Dearly Departed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Points     Method of Death
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors        Soulcatcher (1)     Sorc        39       Dung Beetle Lightning

 

[tavaritz]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Updatez! But first, a question: I use ice blast a lot. Now, I found a staff that has the mod +2 to Ice Bolt. Ice Bolt is supposed to synergise with Ice Blast. However, the damage of Ice Blast on my character screen doesn't increase when I equip the staff! Why is it so?

Seems like nobody answered your question.

Only hard points calculate as a synergy. Any plusses be it to all, tab or skill does not.

The other way is fine. Hard points in synergy skill will affect any skill even if you don't have hard points in it. Be it oskill, chrages, aura or ctc.

 

[Es Mors]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Seems like nobody answered your question.

Only hard points calculate as a synergy. Any plusses be it to all, tab or skill does not.

The other way is fine. Hard points in synergy skill will affect any skill even if you don't have hard points in it. Be it oskill, chrages, aura or ctc.

Thanks, I figured it out in the end. Kind of embarassing that I didn't know that. :embarassed:

 

[spikewilbury]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Finished up act 2. Duriel went down pretty easily, even on P8. No good drops from him.

[highlight]Terrorizer, level 27 Necromancer, Kurast Docks[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Location        Points
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors          Soulcatcher (2)   Sorc     A3 - NM            157
spikewilbury     Terrorizer        Necro    A3 - Norm          57
scrcrw           Flighty           Sorc     A2 - Norm          53
RGValdearg       Valense           Amazon   A1 - Norm          27 
Bugzy            Unpredictable     Amazon   A1 - Norm          27
Lostprophet      Bartman           Paladin  A1 - Norm          20
ancalagon        Trinity           Assassin A1 - Norm          12
fanatic          Cute_Butt         Amazon   A1 - Norm          2


The Dearly Departed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Points     Method of Death
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors        Soulcatcher (1)     Sorc        39       Dung Beetle Lightning

 

[ancalagon the black]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

[highlight]ancalagon, Trinity, level 25, Kurast Docks[/highlight]
score = level 25 + 12 quests + 16 wps = 53 (forgot sewers & palace wps)

Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Location        Points
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors          Soulcatcher (2)   Sorc     A3 - NM            157
spikewilbury     Terrorizer        Necro    A3 - Norm          57
ancalagon        Trinity           Assassin A3 - Norm          53
scrcrw           Flighty           Sorc     A2 - Norm          53
RGValdearg       Valense           Amazon   A1 - Norm          27 
Bugzy            Unpredictable     Amazon   A1 - Norm          27
Lostprophet      Bartman           Paladin  A1 - Norm          20
fanatic          Cute_Butt         Amazon   A1 - Norm          2


The Dearly Departed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Points     Method of Death
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors        Soulcatcher (1)     Sorc        39       Dung Beetle Lightning

I've messed around with different /p settings, but ended up settling on /p3 for most of the time.

So far, I've found The Diggler, Ravenclaw, 2 Nokozan Relics, and Duriel (on /p1) dropped a Nagel. I don't normally mess with MF much, but this time around I have been, and apparently it works...

Also found this from kicking an urn:

Rune Eye
Amulet
Required Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0xe9c75ccd
Item Level: 20
Version: Expansion 1.10+
4% Mana stolen per hit
Cold Resist +30%
Lightning Resist +11%
Fire Resist +24%
21% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

She has 101%MF after adding the 15% nagel.

Skills:
Claw Mastery: 16/16
Burst of Speed: 2/2
Dragon Talon: 1/1
Dragon Claw: 7/7

I started by putting some randomly in Dragon Claw and Claw Mastery, then I realized that a point in the Mastery gives almost as much %ED to DC as a point in DC does, so I've been putting points in CM since.

Her damage is enough that most things on /p3 die in one or 2 hits, but the lack of any form of AoE attack hurts sometimes.

 

[Es Mors]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Good job, spikewilbury and ancalagon!

I am very sorry, but I have to take a temporary leave from this tournament. The upcoming two weeks look to be the busiest weeks for me this semester and I really have to not screw them up. So, naturaly, I'm uninstalling Diablo 2. I'll be back after that and hope this tournament is still alive and kicking by then!

So, last update for two weeks:

Soulcatcher wentured out into the jungles, introducing its denizens to the mighty firewall. Not many dangers there, and act 3 really is simpler to tackle for a sorc. What wasn't simple at all, however, was the disued reliquary. That place gave me four heart attacks! It went like this - walk in, watch the merc die swiftly from the archer pack and couple vipers right beside the stairs, while chugging rejuvenation potions and franticaly trying to exit through the stairs. Then, for some unexplainable reason I subjected myself to that same thing three more times, untill it dawned on me that I can teleport depper into the temple and not face all the archers at once.

Finished right after that, so Travincal is next (in two weeks). Level 63 + 42 quests + 64 waypoints = 169 points.

[highlight]Destroyer Soulcatcher, level 63 sorceress, Kurast Causeway (NM)[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Location        Points
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors          Soulcatcher (2)   Sorc     A3 - NM            169
spikewilbury     Terrorizer        Necro    A3 - Norm          57
ancalagon        Trinity           Assassin A3 - Norm          53
scrcrw           Flighty           Sorc     A2 - Norm          53
RGValdearg       Valense           Amazon   A1 - Norm          27 
Bugzy            Unpredictable     Amazon   A1 - Norm          27
Lostprophet      Bartman           Paladin  A1 - Norm          20
fanatic          Cute_Butt         Amazon   A1 - Norm          2


The Dearly Departed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Points     Method of Death
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors        Soulcatcher (1)     Sorc        39       Dung Beetle Lightning

Good luck to everyone in the tournament!

 

[spikewilbury]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

I finished off Act 3 last night. Once again, my skeleton army made short work of Mephisto. I'm looking forward to finishing Normal and trying something new. Act 3 S/U drops: 2 x Isenhart's Case, Isenhart's Lightbrand, Sander's Taboo.

[highlight]Terrorizer, level 31 Necromancer, Pandemonium Fortress[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Location        Points
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors          Soulcatcher (2)   Sorc     A3 - NM            169
spikewilbury     Terrorizer        Necro    A4 - Norm          76
ancalagon        Trinity           Assassin A3 - Norm          53
scrcrw           Flighty           Sorc     A2 - Norm          53
RGValdearg       Valense           Amazon   A1 - Norm          27 
Bugzy            Unpredictable     Amazon   A1 - Norm          27
Lostprophet      Bartman           Paladin  A1 - Norm          20
fanatic          Cute_Butt         Amazon   A1 - Norm          2


The Dearly Departed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Points     Method of Death
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors        Soulcatcher (1)     Sorc        39       Dung Beetle Lightning

 

[fanatic]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Nice going there, spikewilbury. Seems like Cute_Butt is lagging behind, hehe.
Just managed to hit the Arcane Sanctuary waypoint in Act II, RL is taking its toil on me, so much so I have to the player settings to make things go faster...

Cute_Butt is also proud to display her very first unique - Snakecord!

I swear this unique drops first for every of my tourney characters ...

 

[fanatic]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Cute_Butt and companion has entered Act III and ran into a minor technical problem:
After dispatching the unique flayers at Flayers Jungle... no Gidbinn! I cleared the areas all the way to the first Kurast Waypoint but still couldnt see any unique blade
Never had this happened before, not sure what caused this bug?

So now Im down by 2 quest points, this and the Imbue, which I have yet to use.
Since this is a single pass, guess I have to leave the quest undone?

The only noteworthy finds are 2 parts of the Cleglaw Set, sword and glove, of which Cute_Butt is using the glove with much glee: Throw poison javelin, switch to bow and knock'em back into the poison cloud.
The false tombs gave Blood Crescent and Serpent Lord, both of no use for this char =(

[highlight]Cute_Butt, level 29 Amazon, Act 3 Flayers Jungle
Maeko, level 29 Act I Cold Arrow Rogue[/highlight]

 

[spikewilbury]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Well, Diablo made short work of Terrorizer. I got myself trapped in a bone prison and was not prepared for the onslaught. Probably won't start another character. Thanks for the tourney!

P.S. Fanatic I tried to update your points to the best of my ability.

[highlight]RIP Terrorizer, level 33 Necromancer, Chaos Sanctuary[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Location        Points
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors          Soulcatcher (2)   Sorc     A3 - NM            169
fanatic          Cute_Butt         Amazon   A3 - Norm          59
ancalagon        Trinity           Assassin A3 - Norm          53
scrcrw           Flighty           Sorc     A2 - Norm          53
RGValdearg       Valense           Amazon   A1 - Norm          27 
Bugzy            Unpredictable     Amazon   A1 - Norm          27
Lostprophet      Bartman           Paladin  A1 - Norm          20



The Dearly Departed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Points     Method of Death
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
spikewilbury   Terrorizer          Necro       83       Diablo
Es Mors        Soulcatcher (1)     Sorc        39       Dung Beetle Lightning

 

[Es Mors]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

RIP Terrorizer. Sorry for the deeds, spikewilbury.

Soulcatcher just hit act 5 NM. Act 3 was pretty much a breeze, the hardest thing was probably that first LE unique guy in Durance level 3. Tried the moat trick on mephisto for the first time, but couldn't do it, I guess it's not possible when you haven't done the quest (the moat hasn't appeared yet)?

Durance of hate level 2 was very good to me, dropping two unique shields (Lidless Wall jig and Swordback Hold) and a Lum! Made myself a Smoke with that Lum and dropped Ancient's Pledge in favor of the Lidless Wall.

Act 4 was pretty hard at first, but I got used to the boost in difficulty and managed to get through. Some random uniques were quite hard-hitting in the first areas, however the Chaos Sanctuary was pretty tame. Also, one area had gloams... Diablo was scary at first, but proved to be quite doable.

Hellforge gave a Sol (sigh...).

Merc got a nice upgrade when Blackhorn's Face dropped. That's the first time I see this unique, it is a very good helm! Considered wearing it myself, but I really like my Tarnhelm.

level 67 + 48 quests + 68 waypoints = 183 points

[highlight]Destroyer Soulcatcher, level 67 sorceress, Harrogath[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Location        Points
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors          Soulcatcher (2)   Sorc     A5 - NM            183
fanatic          Cute_Butt         Amazon   A3 - Norm          59
ancalagon        Trinity           Assassin A3 - Norm          53
scrcrw           Flighty           Sorc     A2 - Norm          53
RGValdearg       Valense           Amazon   A1 - Norm          27 
Bugzy            Unpredictable     Amazon   A1 - Norm          27
Lostprophet      Bartman           Paladin  A1 - Norm          20



The Dearly Departed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Points     Method of Death
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
spikewilbury   Terrorizer          Necro       83       Diablo
Es Mors        Soulcatcher (1)     Sorc        39       Dung Beetle Lightning

 

[fanatic]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

@spikewilbury: Sad for your necro and thanks for your help with the update!

In the span of one week, Cute_Butt has disposed of 2 prime evils: Mephisto and Diablo, with the help of her trusty companion, Maeko.

To continue from the last update: after clearing the AS of its denizens and a certain demented sorcerer, Cute_Butt went on the clear the 6 false tombs. That actually took quite a few sessions (spanning for about a week). The true tomb itself was very huge, though I dont remember increased dungeon map sizes being one of the updates in 1.13 .. and as luck would have it, the door to the act boss was in the very last place that our heroine explored. After multiple merc resurrections and pots restocking, Duriel went down in a cloud of green gas.

At the start of Act III, she had a lot of points in Poison Javelin and coupled with the wide areas in the majority of the maps, progress was swift. Basically she was chucking green sticks in every direction, then running around to draw in all the monsters in the vicinity. Everything went down green in the face, survivors were picked off by the merc. It was after the last of the corrupted Council went down, when she realised something was wrong. The Horadric Cube refused to transmute Khalim's Will! After some discussion with Cain, she finally realised her folly, she had completely skipped the sewers and was missing a body part.. As I did not have time to do a full clear of the large dungeon, Cute_Butt was presented with the challenge of breaking the Compelling Orb with ALL the corrupted High Council on her back, in the next session! Well it wasnt that difficult actually, at P1 and with some purples in the belt. Then it was face-off with Mephisto, who managed to kill my merc a couple times before going down.

Act IV again provided a lot of space for Poison Javelin to work its magic. After releasing Izual, I maxed PJ with the reward SPs. Needless to say, everything went down faster after that. Cute_Butt even went on to acquire a class-specific weapon, Maiden Javelin, further enhancing her main skill now. The +1 to skill tree more than makes up for the replenish quantity affix on the magical short spear she was using. Descending into the River of Flame, she very quickly found the Hell Forge. It was a game of merry-go-round with Hephasto around his forge, since neither she nor her merc was much of a tank. Inevitably, the evil smith went down green in the face. Pressing on towards the Chaos Sanctuary, where the only problems were venom lords breathing fire in her face, she opened the seals and dispatched of the bosses quickly. Then the ground shook and Diablo appeared. There was a lot of room in his playground and Cute_Butt was relatively safe chucking green javelins at a distance. The rogue merc, who was not gifted with more intelligence, valiantly stood in pink lightning & fire, firestorms and immolations, and of course died quite a lot of times. But in the end, she lived to see her master bring down the Lord of Terror.

On to Act V and I think there is a chance this one might make it to Nightmare mode

 

[Vildecor]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

I think I'll hop in on this one too, as the first barbarian. Name to be determined.

 

[Es Mors]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Welcome to the tournament Vildecor, nice to see a new character class.

@fanatic: nice progress, hope you reach Nightmare and beyond!

Presenting my first conqueror, yey!

Act 5 was quite easy, except the Bloody Foothills, which were brutal with their 1000000 burning dead archers. All the usual difficult spots (Ancients, minions, Baal) failed to be difficult, but the Moo Moo Farm was surprisingly tough. Had a nice realisation in the middle of the act that some monsters' lightning attacks did exactly 0 damage to my merc, who has 80% lightning resist and 20 lightning absorb (from Darkglow and Blackhorn's Face).

Everything was done on players 8, except the Ancients (players 1).

Enough blathering, on to the important stuff: phat loot from Nightmare.

Level 75 + 54 quests + 79 waypoints = 208 points

[highlight]Conqueror Soulcatcher, level 75 sorceress, Rogue Encampment[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Location        Points
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Es Mors          Soulcatcher (2)   Sorc     A1 - H             208
fanatic          Cute_Butt         Amazon   A3 - Norm          59
ancalagon        Trinity           Assassin A3 - Norm          53
scrcrw           Flighty           Sorc     A2 - Norm          53
RGValdearg       Valense           Amazon   A1 - Norm          27 
Bugzy            Unpredictable     Amazon   A1 - Norm          27
Lostprophet      Bartman           Paladin  A1 - Norm          20



The Dearly Departed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forum Name     Character Name      Class     Points     Method of Death
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
spikewilbury   Terrorizer          Necro       83       Diablo
Es Mors        Soulcatcher (1)     Sorc        39       Dung Beetle Lightning

EDIT: Here're my skills at end of Nighmare:
20 Fire Wall
20 Enchant
20 Warmth
3 Inferno

1 Glacial Spike
1 Shiver Armor
9 Static Field
1 Teleport

7 prereqs

 

[fanatic]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

I regret that this update contains bad news: my comp went down following a series of BSoD
Unfortunately, at the moment, I do not have the time to carry out repair works on it. RL is taking up most of my awake moments and I will be out of town for the next 2 weeks. I can only do the salvage work after I come back. Im praying hard that it is not a hard disk failure because i have much precious data inside. Sadly it is times like these that you realise you should have backed up your data more often.

Cute_Butt was last seen exploring the Glacial Trail after saving Anya, who rewarded her with a +2 amazon pike. I had plans to go respec fully into the Spear & Javelin tree in nightmare, but that remains to be seen now. In the event that my D2 files cannot be saved, I will probably start a different character.

@es mors: congrats on the conqueror status all the best in the final leg of the journey

@vildecor: welcome to the tourney! hope you have fun every step of the way

 

[Oryx and Friends]

Re: The Triple Threat Tournament

Yo, I used to be on this forum a few years ago, but hell if I remember my account information.

Anyway, I've never done a tournament before, but this seems like a fun chance to try an elemental bowazon! I'll update after I accomplish some stuff.